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For the second game in a row, Nebraska pitching wrapped a big beautiful gift with a bright red bow for the Auburn Tigers in the form of 12 walks and three hit batters. You. Can’t. Win. Games. When. You. Walk. Batters. Until the Cornhusker pitching staff internalizes this fundamental aspect of the game, there are going to be more ugly games for fans to sit through.
Gavin Blachowicz got his third Sunday start of the season, but did not have the same command of his pitches that he had in his previous two outings. Bristol Carter led off the Tiger first inning with a double and scored two batters later on an Eric Guevara single to put Auburn up 1-0 after one.
Blachowicz got a taste of Auburn hitting in the bottom of the second inning with Chris Rembert leading off with a single and Logan Gregorio reaching on a fielder’s choice, and then both runners advancing on a crucial Jett Buck throwing error. Auburn ended up scoring an earned run on a sacrifice fly ball, and then three unearned runs on a Chase Fralick home run. This was the fifth four run inning of the series for the Tigers and they held a commanding 5-0 lead.
Tiger starter Alex Petrovic was effective in his first three innings against the Big Red, though the boys from Lincoln did put the lead-off man on twice, and had two on with no outs in their second. The Cornhuskers we able to get back into the game in the fourth after Case Sanderson singled, Joshua Overbeek walked, and Dylan Carey was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Cole Kitchens hit a shot to the shortstop that he misplayed, scoring Sanderson. Then Devin Nunez hit a deep fly ball to score Overbeek. However, the rally was silenced as catcher Trey Fikes looked at strike three. Auburn added a run in their half of the fourth to make the score 6-2 Tigers after four complete innings.
Offensively, this was a game of wasted opportunities. In six of nine innings the Cornhuskers put the lead-off batter on, yet they only scored twice. Six times they had at least two runners on base and only scored three runs. To rub salt into the wound, with two on and two out in the top of the 8th inning, Jeter Worthley faced a full count and was called out on a pitch-clock violation.
Kevin Mannell came in to relieve Blachowicz to start the third. The Mississippi State transfer had his best appearance of the season going four innings with five strikeouts and steadying the ship, though he did give up one run. Despite that, the four innings was huge because of the shortage of arms in the bullpen today.
The seventh inning exposed the Nebraska bullpen as three pitchers appeared, Braxton Stewart, Auden Pankonin, and Grant Cleavinger. Auburn scored two runs on one hit, three walks and a hit batter. After seven innings, the Tigers were up 8-2 over the Cornhuskers.
Joshua Overbeek scored his second run of the game, and Nebraska’s final run of the game, in the top of the eighth inning. He singled and beat a throw to third on a Dylan Carey double. Max Buettenback drove him in on a sacrifice fly.
The eighth inning could not have been uglier for Nebraska pitching. Freshman Jace Ziola started it off with a walk, hit batter and a walk. With bases loaded, another freshman, Cooper Grace came in and went walk, walk, walk. In came senior Caleb Clark who induced a ground ball double play, but then went walk, walk, and ground out to first base. Four runs, no hits, no errors, seven walks, and one hit batter. Final score: Auburn 12, Nebraska 3.
Ironically, Nebraska out-hit Auburn today, eight to seven. By the same token, Auburn issue six free passes to Nebraska’s 15.
Nebraska did get back into it in the middle innings, and with Kevin Mannell slowing down Auburn scoring, Nebraska was a couple of hits away from making it an interesting game. That was not to be and the Cornhuskers dropped the series to Auburn.
The home opener is scheduled for Tuesday at Haymarket Park against Omaha. South Dakota State then comes to town for one game on Wednesday. It most likely will not be 74-degrees with a bright blue sky like it was today in Alabama, but it’s baseball!
Notes
· Dylan Carey’s single in the second inning was his 200th hit in his Cornhusker career, he is the 28th Husker to reach that mark
· Six times during the weekend series Auburn put up four runs.
· On the weekend, Nebraska pitching surrendered 25 walks and hit eight batters. You can believe that Coach Rob Childress will address that with his staff this upcoming week.
· With the entire bullpen seeing action this weekend, it will be interesting to see who is called on to start Tuesday and Wednesday. One would think that Ryan Harrahill will get one of the starts, and maybe Colin Nowaczyk will be given a chance to get back on track after his recent struggles.
· The big question mark with pitching is whether Cooper Katskee will start a midweek game, or will the coaching look to get him into the routine to start next Sunday, which he was tabbed to do at the start of the season.